20 Sep 2017

Chief Justice Mr Maruping Dibotelo is expected to deliver judgement this morning in a case in which two men are accused for the murder of a cab driver four years ago in Gaborone West location.

The two are Matshidiso Boikanyo and Moabi Seabelo Mabiletsa who are both residents of Tlokweng.

They are accused of the murder of Mr Vincent Mopipi on the night of September 13, 2013.

The judgement comes after both the prosecution led by Ms Sali Boitumelo from the Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and defence lawyers Ms Dikeledi Dingake and Mr Kabelo Nkwe made their final submissions on June 23, 2017.

In their joint submission, the two defence lawyers had stated that the prosecution had failed to link their clients to the alleged crime and that the results of the DNA were subject to challenge thus pleaded with the court to discharge and acquit their clients from the alleged offence.

On the other hand, the prosecution submitted that the accused assertions that they were not linked to the crime were mere unsubstantiated afterthoughts which should be overlooked by the court.

Ms Boitumelo therefore urged the court to find the duo guilty as charged.    

 In a previous setting when delivering the ruling on whether the accused has a case to answer or not, Justice Dibotelo said the evidence set out by investigating officer detective inspector Mmilili Mashabile discloses that in the evening of September 13, 2013, the handset or cellphone with serial number 355307030022982 in which Sim card No. 77473949 was inserted called Deluxe Cabs Centre between 9 and 10 pm. was found in the possession of Boikanyo when he was arrested on September 18, 2013.

The number 77473949 was the number that was given to the deceased by Oarabile Koketso, who was employed by Deluxe Cabs Company as a base operator, to contact the customers at Puma Filing Station in Tlokweng who later called Koketso saying he found and picked the said customers who, however, were no longer going to UB but to Block 9.

“The evidence I have set out above prima facie connects the first accused, Matshidiso, to the murder of the accused.I therefore find on this evidence that accused number one has a case to answer,” he said to a stunned Boikanyo who has been in custody ever since he was arrested. With regard to  accused number two, Mabiletsa, Justice Dibotelo said the witness who testified as state witness number five, Goitsemodimo Gofaone Mogadime, of Bontleng who was also his former girlfriend testified that he used to sleep at her place and whenever he went out at night, he would wear tights underneath, put trousers on top of the tights and then insert a knife between the tights and trousers either on his waist or sheen area.

The judge noted that Mogadime said she once asked him where or why he was taking a knife whenever he goes out at night for entertainment and he told her that people of Bontleng were fond of fighting other people and he carried the knife to defend himself.

Meanwhile the girlfriend told the court that she did not see the accused taking the knife on the fateful day except that when he returned from the entertainment when bars closed at around midnight, he joined her in the blankets without taking off his clothes.

Judge Dibotelo said after Mabiletsa took a bath in the morning he put on the tights and then put on his trousers, took the knife from the table and inserted it in his tights in the sheen area.

They then went to their neighbours who joined them to go and buy beers.

As they were chatting on the way the police arrived in a vehicle, caught and arrested Mabiletsa and drove away with him.

Upon being searched at the police station the police retrieved a long knife with a black handle and shiny blade from his sheen. The knife was therefore taken for forensic analysis where the deceased DNA profile was found in it.

“The evidence I have set out above links the second accused to the murder of Vincent Mopipi in that the deceased Vincent Mopipi’s DNA profile was found by Boitshepo Bojosi, forensic scientist, to be amongst the partial mixed DNA profile that was found on the black handled knife with a shiny blade, which was found on and retrieved from the second accused by the police after his arrest on September 14, 2013,” he said.

The two  have pleaded not guilty to the murder charge. Matshidiso is represented by attorney Ms Dingake while Mr Nkwe represents Mabiletsa. ENDS